LETTER FROM A BLIND MAN Poem by Stefan Hertmans

I never knew you.
There you were without
That black spot in me
Being aware, a cloud of
Contradictions we
Call the present and forget.

And yet a voice somewhere
Negated me, a lie
She whispered no one could deny.
Or she invented truths
While I thought you existed.

And so you filled my days
With the shadow of the hours,
And without words you sang
In my open mouth.

Crouching, you lay in wait
Till suddenly I saw you,
But you didn't return my gaze.

You stared at vanished images
That nourished you, eyes closed
I no longer could forget.